Distributed.
Distributed.
Podcast Description
Remote work is here to stay. Whether you’re firmly in the return to office camp or die hard distributed, the cat’s out of the bag for the industry.
The Distributed podcast, from Tuple, deconstructs how world-class engineers and their teams navigate the challenges (and opportunities) remote work creates.
Host Jack Hannah uncovers stories of teams and individuals overcoming technical challenges, working through interpersonal dynamics, and battling their own distractions.
Through these conversations, we’ll unpack the practical side of how folks work together in this new normal, and dig into the social emotional piece so often overlooked in programming.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast covers a range of topics centered around remote work dynamics, including effective communication, team collaboration, emotional intelligence, and balancing deep work with meetings. Specific episodes delve into practices like Agile software development, sufficient design methodologies, and techniques for maintaining mental health while working remotely.
Remote work is here to stay. Whether you’re firmly in the return to office camp or die hard distributed, the cat’s out of the bag for the industry.
The Distributed podcast, from Tuple, deconstructs how world-class engineers and their teams navigate the challenges (and opportunities) remote work creates.
Host Jack Hannah uncovers stories of teams and individuals overcoming technical challenges, working through interpersonal dynamics, and battling their own distractions.
Through these conversations, we’ll unpack the practical side of how folks work together in this new normal, and dig into the social emotional piece so often overlooked in programming.
In this episode of Distributed, host Jack Hannah talks withJesse Wilson, a longtime open-source contributor and Cash App engineer, whose work underpins much of the Java and Android ecosystem. Jesse shares why some of the most rewarding engineering work comes from doing things the right way, even when it’s the hard way.
Their conversation dives into the story behind Okio, the I/O library for Android, Java, and Kotlin that’s been downloaded >50 billion times, and what it revealed about craftsmanship, risk-taking, and building for the long term. They also unpack how remote teams can bring back the spark of in-person collaboration by pairing more often, embracing small interruptions, and using shared artifacts to stay aligned.
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Where to find Jesse Wilson:
• Mastodon: https://cosocial.ca/@jessewilson
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swankjesse
• Blog: https://publicobject.com
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Where to find Jack Hannah:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-hannah/
• Website: https://tuple.app/
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:28) Why the quick and bad way is never the right choice
(04:07) A story from Okio that shaped Jesse’s engineering philosophy
(06:39) How company culture empowered Jesse to build Okio
(08:46) The challenges of building Okio
(12:40) Why Okio was worth building
(15:08) The value of spontaneous collaboration and why interruptions can be good
(21:10) Handling friction in distributed teams
(27:32) The value of shared responsibilities and scheduled maintenance
(31:05) How Jesse balances meetings with time for flow state
(35:42) How a shared whiteboard or Google Doc keeps meetings on track
(40:52) How shared artifacts guide meetings and make wrap-ups effortless
(43:23) Rapid-fire round
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Referenced:
• Okio: https://square.github.io/okio/
• Writing Code That Lasts Forever: https://publicobject.com/2018/08/28/writing-code-that-lasts-forever
• Todoist: https://www.todoist.com
• inessential by Brent Simmons: https://inessential.com
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